IBM and Canonical Bring Netbook Software to Africa

IBM has joined Canonical to market Ubuntu-based netbooks with IBM's Smart Work applications in emerging world markets. Africa is the beginning.

IBM's goal is to outdo competitor Microsoft with more affordable prices in the emerging markets. Target groups for the netbook suite are different than the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) initiative in not being schoolchildren but small enterprises who can't afford a PC for each of their coworkers. The viability of the IBM-Canonical offer remains to be seen, but depends on configuration and support needs. The software bundle should be up to 50% more affordable than an equivalent Microsoft desktop, based on licensing costs, administration and maintenance.

The Smart Work client will include email programs, text and spreadsheet processing and communications software. IBM will includes its Lotus programs, that is to say Lotus Notes or Web-based iNotes as mail client along with the free Lotus Symphony productivity application suite and the Lotus Sametime messaging and collaboration software. The LotusLive hosted services will provide services in a cloud environment. Smart Work can be expanded with diverse Lotus components and virtualization technologies.

IBM has already found service providers in Africa for client distribution and is in contact with universities to bring its software model into academic focus.

IBM's Lotus Symphony will be unable to break the dominance of Microsoft's Office package according to market researchers Gartner. Open Office still has too many deficits for enterprise use, they say, and the future belongs to Web-based office and collaboration solutions.